Reciprocal Teaching: A Reading Comprehension Package

The Savvy Teacher's Guide: Reading Interventions That Work Jim Wright (YNIW.interventioncentral.org) 46

Reciprocal Teaching: A ReadingComprehension PackageDescription: The intervention package teaches students to use reading comprehensionstrategies independently, including text prediction, summarization, question generation,and clarification of unknown or unclear content.

Materials:• Overhead transparencies of practice reading passages, transparency markers• Student copies of Be a Careful Reader!: Four Strategies to Better Understand

What YouAre Reading, Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheet, and practicereading passages (optional) or reading/text books

For effective-teaching tips to use when introducing thisstrategy, consult the guidelines presented in "IntroducingAcademic Strategies to Students: A Direct-InstructionApproach".

Preparation:• Prepare overheads of sample passages.

Intervention Script:1. Set aside at least four successive instructional days to introduce each of the

following comprehension strategies: Day 1: prediction, Day 2: summarization("list main ideas"), Day 3: question generation, Day 4: clarifying. As youintroduce each strategy, "think aloud" as you apply the technique to a samplepassage, write down responses on the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheet,and check for student understanding of key concepts.

2. After students have been introduced to the key strategies, the group is now readyto apply all four strategies from the Reciprocal Teaching package to a samplereading passage. For each strategy (prediction, summarization, questiongeneration, clarifying), briefly review the technique. Then randomly select astudent "instructor" to guide the group to apply the strategy and complete therelevant section of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheet. (Be preparedto offer assistance to the student "instructor" as needed.) Give specific praise tostudents for appropriately using comprehension strategies.

3. As the group shows an increased mastery of the strategies, assign students to readtext segments silently. Then take the students as a group through the fourstrategies, calling on different students to discuss how they applied the strategiesto the passage.

f

The Sawy Teacher'sGuide:Reading Interventions That Work JimWright ( IWIW .interventioncentral.org) 47

4. Give students copies of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheet andinstruct them to read a passage silently without interruption. Prior to theirstarting, remind students to take time occasionally during reading to makepredictions about the text, note main ideas, formulate key questions, and clarifyunc16ar material.

Tips:Let students select Reciprocal Teaching passages. Allow the group to vote for apreferred passage from among several possible choices. Choice often increases studentmotivation and investment.

Start a 'Reciprocal Teaching' Tutoring Program. Once students become proficient inusing the Reciprocal Teaching package, consider assigning them as peer tutors to trainother students to use Reciprocal Teaching Strategies.

Troubleshooting:While they partictpate in the large-group instruction, some students do not appearto use the comprehension strategies in their independent reading. After independentreading assignments, pair students off to compare their completed Reciprocal Teachingworksheets. Have individuals in each student pair alternate in discussing how theyapplied the strategies. Walk around the room observing discussion. If you notice that astudent has failed to complete his or her worksheet, pull him or her aside later for aprivate conference to discover what problems might be preventing the student from usingthese strategies.

Students do not use the Reciprocal Teaching strategies across instructional settings.Let other teachers know that you have taught your students to use this package ofcomprehension strategies. Share copies of the Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheetwith your fellow instructors and invite them to use it. Share a copy of the worksheet withstudents' parents and encourage them to see that their child uses it for aU readingassignments.

References:Lysynchuk, L.M., Pressley, M., & Vye, N.J. (1990). Reciprocal teaching improvesstandardized reading comprehension performance in poor comprehenders. TheElementary School Journal, 90, 469-484.

".-------

The Sawy Teacher's Guide: Reading Interventions That WorK Jim Wright ( WI'IW.interventioncentral.org) 48

Be a Careful Reader!: Four Strategies to BetterUnderstand What You Are ReadingWhen you are reading an article, book chapter, or story, you can use these four simpletechniques to be sure that you fully understand the content.

Prediction. Before you begin to read the selection, look at the main title, scan the pagesto read the major headings, and look at any illustrations. Based on these clues, try topredict what the article or story is about.

Now read the selection to see whether it turns out as you predicted! Stop at severalpoints during your reading and ask yourself how closely the content of the actual story orarticle fit your initial prediction. How do the facts and information that you have readchange your prediction about what you will find in the rest of the story or article?

List Main ideas. Stop after each paragraph or major section of the passage. Constructone or two complete sentences that sum up only the most important idea(s) that appear inthe section. (Good summary sentences include key concepts or events but leave out lessimportant details!)

Write these summary (main idea) sentences down and continue reading.

Question Generation. Look at the ideas that you have summarized as you read thepassage. For each main idea listed, write down at least one question that the main ideawill answer. Good questions should include words like "who, "where", "when", "why",and "what".

For example, if you are reading an article about the extinction of the dinosaurs, you mightlist the following main idea: "Most scientists now believe that the extinction of thedinosaurs was caused by a large meteor striking the earth." You could then write thisquestion: "What event do most scientists now believe caused the mass extinction of thedinosaurs?"

Clarifying. Sometimes in your reading you will run into words, phrases, or wholesentences that really don't make sense. Here are some ways that you can clarify themeaning of your reading before moving on:

Unknown words. If you come across a word whose meaning you do not know, read thesentences before and after it to see if they give you clues to the word's meaning. If theword is still unclear, look it up in a dictionary.

Unclear phrases or sentences. Reread the phrase or sentence carefully and try tounderstand it. If it contains words such as "them", "it" or "they", be sure that you knowwhat nouns (persons, places, or things) to which these words refer.

I,

(

The Savvy Teacher's Guide: Reading Interventions That Work Jim Wright ( l'M'W.interventioncentral.org) 49

If all else fails, ask another student or an adult to help you to clarify the meaning of aconfusing word, phrase, or sentence.

( ( I

The Sawy Teacher's Guide: Reading Interventions TIlat Work fim Wright (www.interventioncentral.org) 51

Reciprocal Teaching Strategies Worksheet (Adapted from Lysynchuk, Pressley, & Vye, 1990)

Student Name: _ Reading Assignment: _ Date: -----Prediction. Before you begin to read the selection, look at the main title, scan the pages to read the major headings, and look at any illustrations.Write down your prediction about what the story or article will cover:

List Main Ideas. As you finish reading eachparagraph or key sectionof the passage, summarize the main idea of that paragraph or section inone or two complete sentences. (Use the back of this sheet ifneeded.):

Generate Questions, For each main idea listed, write down at leastone question that the main idea will answer. Good questions shouldinclude words like "who, "where", "when", "why", and "what".

• Main idea 1:

• Main idea 2:

• Main idea 3:

• Question 1:

• Question 2 :

• Question 3:

Clarifying. Copy down any words, phrases, or sentences in the passage that are unclear: _

()

Reciprocal Teaching Progress Monitoring

The next pages are an easy way to record & graph your reading

comprehension progress monitoring data. Here are the stepsto use them:

1. Collect 3 samples of the student's number of words

circled correctly on a three minute probe (DAZE or

MAZE). Circle these three numbers in the gray "baseline"

section (one per column).

2. Begin intervention.

\.•...•/3. One time weekly, collect a sample of the student's

number of words circled correctly on a three minute

probe and circle that number in the white "intervention"section.

Tips:

Date each data point in the first row of the table.

You may also record the number of errors along with the number of wordscircled correctly. This can be done on the same recording sheet anddifferentiated using a different colored pen or shape (e.q.. triangle insteadof circle).

Progress Monitoring: Frequency

Student Name: _Data Collected by: _

Grade Level: ----------School Year: ----------

Area Targeted: _

Goal: ----------------------------

Date

25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 2524 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 2423 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 23 2322 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 2221 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 2120 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 2019 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 1918 18 18 18 18 18 18 18· 18 18

"'-"

<:. 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17\ 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16

IS 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15>- 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14UZ 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13~:.:> 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 120-~ 11 11 11 11 11 11 II 11 11 11~ 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 98 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 87 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 76 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 54 4 4 4 4 4 .4 4 4 43 3 3 3 3 3 ., 3 3 3.)

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 21 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

~' Intervention\